Patience is a virtue.

Straughn showed great patience with Luverne in the first half, but grew a little impatient in the final 16 minutes during a 48-22 loss Friday afternoon in the semifinals of Red Level’s 16th annual boys Christmas tournament.

For the first 3:51 of the game, both teams didn’t score a point as a defensive battle ensued. SHS passed the ball around the key looking for shots, while LHS couldn’t get passed the zone at times.

Straughn’s JD Driver made the first point of the game on the back-end of a pair with 4:09 left in the opening period.

LHS would answer when 6-foot-8 junior center Donta’ Hall got a one-handed dunk that caused the crowd to got into a frenzy. This shot propelled LHS to a 8-1 lead with more than a minute remaining.

Straughn’s Brice Scott and Rollin Kinsaul got 3-pointers to stop the bleeding late to cut LHS’s lead to 10-7 after the first.

Brennan Maddox got a jumper to start the second period and Straughn narrowed the gap by one point for the first of two times in the game. The next time SHS did it was a few minutes later on a jumper by Scott.

Preston Sankey got a tip in after a layup earlier in the second, and Quez Watkins put in a jumper after getting a rebound to go up 22-11.

Scott nailed a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 22-14 at halftime.

Straughn was outscored 17-3 in the fourth period.

“It got away from us,” SHS coach Rusty Andrews said. “We just got impatient. When you’re down it’s hard to be patient, and we didn’t rebound in the second half. With any ball club that’s as athletic as Luverne is, you have to play possession basketball, and you’ve got to rebound.

“The first half we did a decent job, but the second half, we didn’t do a good job,” he said. “I was proud of their effort.”

Scott led SHS with eight points.

Watkins led LHS with 16 points.

Straughn (8-2) plays rival Andalusia today at 4:30 p.m. for a try at third place.